Contextual Dimensions in Attitudes as a Function of Group-Originating Identities

Abstract

Rokeach's theory of attitude expression (that persons maintain both attitudes toward situations and toward objects or classes of objects) was redefined to make context and objects dimensions of attitude. This analytical distinction was empirically reproduced within a symbolic interaction framework. The hypothesis that persons including a higher number of group referents in verbalized self-identity are more likely to rely on the contextual dimension when evaluating an object-in-a-situation than are respondents including a lesser number was then tested. Instruments used were the Twenty Statements Test and a scale of favorability composed of five semantic differential items. Analysis of variance and regression techniques provided support both for Rokeach's model of attitudes as well as for the hypothesis.     

Consistent estimators of the variance-covariance matrix of the gmanova model with missing data

A common problem in multivariate general linear models is partially missing response data. The simplest method of analysis in the presence of missing data has been to delete all observations on any individual with any missing data(listwise deletion) and utilize a traditional complete data approach. However: this can result in a great loss of information: and perhaps inconsistencies in the estimation of the variance-covariance matrix. In the generalized multivariate analysis of variance(GMANOVA) model with missing data: Kleinbaum(1973) proposed an estimated generalized least squares approach. In order to apply this: however: a consistent estimate of the variance-covariance matrix is needed. Kleinbaum proposed an estimator which is unbiased and consistent: but it does not take advantage of the fact that the underlying model is GMANOVA and not MANOVA. Using the fact that the underlying model is GMANOVA we have constructed four other con¬sistent estimators. A Monte Carlo simulation experiment is conducted tto further examine how well these estimators compare to the estimator proposed by Kleinbaum.     

Young people,emotional suspicion and the emergence of paediatric selfhood in Palestine

This paper explores young people's relationships to emotions and mental health care in Ramallah, Palestine. Palestinian young people—via public anger, sadness, or even joy—are often marked as emotionally other in familial, institutional and other public spaces as part of NGO-driven constructions of emerging paediatric selfhood. In response, they reproduce and/or reframe notions of emotional suspicion that underwrite these marginalizing processes. Thinking along such axes as possibility and impossibility; mobility and immobility; and the local and international, they simultaneously integrate and resist representational subjection, which is an important part of understanding broader post-Oslo Palestinian identity and community formation.     

Usage and Usability Assessment

Abstract

This article describes Online Information Exchange (ONIX) for Serials, a set of XML-based messages parallel to the ONIX for Books format described in an earlier “Standards Update.” These messages are being developed by a joint working party of National Information Standards Organization (NISO) and EDItEUR, the European EDI organization that oversees ONIX development and maintenance. The article describes the messages, their development, and some of the applications in which it is envisioned the messages will be used.     

Technotes

TechNotes is designed to bring to readers’ attention new developments in technology of relevance to social work education. In this column, the author reflects on the early days of the Internet, how far it has come, and how much promise it still holds for education.     

Plagiarism and the Web

TechNotes is a new occasional column in the Journal of Social Work Education designed to bring to readers’ attention new developments in technology of relevance to social work education. In this first column, Robert F. Vernon, associate professor, School of Social Work, Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis, Shirley Bigna, assistant director, Krannert Memorial Library, University of Indianapolis, and Marshall L. Smith, professor, Social Work Department, Rochester Institute of Technology, describe technology that can help educators to deal with plagiarism.     

Supporting families with a mentally ill parent: European perspectives on interagency cooperation

This paper reports on the findings of a cross-country comparison of cooperation between services for community mental health and child protection in 11 states. The authors consider the implications of the findings for English practice. When children have a parent with mental health problems, they have needs over and above those of other children. Often these needs are met by the family, but this is not always possible. There are increasing numbers of these children, and they feature disproportionately in the case loads of child welfare professionals, health visitors and social workers. The cross-country comparisons demonstrate the ways in which differences in structures, resources, expectations and attitudes affect professional responses and the experiences of families. The findings provide information on several levels. A comparison of commonalities and differences highlights the problems that are shared across countries, and alternative ways of responding to them at ground level are discussed. The factors that facilitate a good outcome are analysed in relation to English practice and service structures. The research findings are relevant for British social welfare strategies, and the paper highlights the implications of the findings for policy and practice. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Risk Perceptions of Offshore Workers on UK Oil and Gas Platforms

Knowledge of the workforce's risk perceptions and attitudes to safety is necessary for the development of a safety culture, where each person accepts responsibility for working safely. The ACSNI Human Factors report stresses the importance of assessing workforce perceptions of risk to achieve a proper safety culture. Risk perception research has been criticized for insufficient analysis of the causal relationships between risk factors and perceived risk. The present study reports some of the factors which predicted risk perception in a sample of 622 employees from six UKCS offshore oil installations who completed a 15-section questionnaire. This paper focuses on the accuracy of workers' risk perceptions and what underlying factors predict the perception of personal risk from both major and minor hazards.     

Can Economic Growth Be Sustained? A Post‐Malthusian Perspective

In the United States and in other economically advanced countries, rapid productivity growth in the material‐producing sectors has been the major source of productivity growth for the entire economy. Over the next several decades, continuing structural change will result in a decline in employment in the material‐producing sectors to near or below 10 percent. A simulation exercise is employed to demonstrate how continued slow productivity growth in the service sectors dampens the rate of productivity growth of the entire economy. It is unlikely that productivity growth in the US economy can be sustained at anywhere near the relatively high rate achieved since the mid‐1990s.     

Alternative Domesticities

Abstract

This special issue responds to a growing body of literature at the nexus of studies on queer/sexuality and home/domesticity. It builds on this existing research that seeks to destabilize the heteronormative ideology of home and domesticity, while also opening up this important space—and its constituent practices—for a plurality of identity formations and subjective experiences. Additionally, it addresses calls from lesbian, gay, and queer studies to shift our attention from public spaces and community places to the domestic. This special issue introduction speaks to continuing investigations of how different groups of people seek to creatively construct intimate relations across time, space, and place. Towards this end, the five articles in this special issue are introduced in the context of their contribution to a cross-disciplinary approach to alternative domesticities.